INDIA SKIRTS BHARAT (28/10/2015)

This Monday as I came out of Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport and boarded a taxi for home, on the way just before the domestic terminal, my attention was drawn towards a series of flex boards on my left side welcoming Heads of the African Nations to the four day (26-29 October 2015) India-Africa Forum Summit 2015. What the flex boards failed to hide was the slums that lay behind it. What a novel way to put up a dressed up India and skirt the real Bharat from the roving gaze of the guests. But does this serve any purpose? The world is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of India and we need not be pretentious.  The First India Africa Forum Summit was held in year 2008. This was another milestone achievement of the Congress Government after the waning of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) - a brainchild of Jawaharlal Nehru - a statesman par excellence. The third edition of the India-Africa Forum Summit will see Heads of 54 African nations converging on New Delhi. The Government of the day claimed this to be the “first time that an event of such a big scale being held in India.” This sounded far from a diplomatic statement from the Government on the importance of the Summit. Who are we trying to belittle- our own Government of the yore? It conveniently forgot that India had successfully hosted 120 Heads of the Nation at the 7^th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in New Delhi in March 1983 that was also attended by the UN Secretary General. India had also played host to the 7^th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM) in November 1983 which was attended by Heads of Nations in equal numbers. Instead of engaging itself in scoring a brownie point over its own previous Governments by presenting wrong information, it would be nice to see if the Government of the day gets down to serious business and come up with some positive results. It is indeed troubling to note that even after one and a half year of present regime, India is placed at 150 on the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index” while Rwanda in Africa stands at 46- a nation which was known for its genocide just two decades back.